Pilot lines provide the link from the research and development phase to ensure that a product is ready for widescale commercialisation.
They are a vital step towards efficient mass production, yet pilot lines are one of the main reasons many products fail early on. They are generally complex and expensive to assemble and often require many adjustments, they also tend to be time-consuming and incompatible with a flexible approach.
The reconfigurable pilot line (RPL) testbed at NMIS specialist technology centre, the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre, provides a more flexible alternative to the traditional fixed pilot line method.
Rather than working from a fixed pilot line that can only be used for one project or a single component, the RPL will allow one pre-assembled line to be used for several different production types.
When changes are required, the RPL will be quickly adaptable and versatile enough to take a project through the whole production process, even where different stages may require significantly different techniques.
The aim is to implement end-to-end automated processing of parts using the system, where all stages of the line are fully automatic. This will be achieved using a combination of industrial robots, collaborative robots (cobots) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).
It is hoped the RPL will make composite manufacturing more accessible and stimulate the growth of the supply chain within Scotland and the wider UK.
As we've seen during the pandemic, manufacturers could be making aerospace parts one day and the next day making respirators.
The RPL will bring down the costs and associated risks of investing in new materials and manufacturing technologies and processes when making new products.